Lakeland: Race report

James Buescher Battles ARCA Warriors for USA Int'l Victory
16-Year-Old Wins in Career-First Start
LAKELAND FL (3-24-07) -- Two days shy of his 17th birthday, James
Buescher, in his career first ARCA RE/MAX Series start, steered his
way into the...

LAKELAND FL (3-24-07) -- Two days shy of his 17th birthday, James
Buescher, in his career first ARCA RE/MAX Series start, steered his
way into the history books with a stunning victory in the Construct
Corps-Palm Beach Grading 250 Saturday night at USA Int'l Speedway in
Lakeland, Florida.

The Plano, Texas driver, after dodging several bullets, out-dueled
rookie Bryan Clauson in the closing laps to score the thrilling victory
for his Country Joe Racing team and the near capacity crowd on hand for
the inaugural event.

"What a great night," said Buescher in victory lane. "We got up front
early and stayed up front. I just want to thank all these guys at
Country Joe Racing, and my family. They all made this happen. What a
great birthday present; we just had a really good night."

Buescher, in the Mercedes Homes-Red Line Oil Dodge, raced underneath
Clauson 11 laps from the finish, and then held off the hungry pack
through a green-white-checker finish. Clauson, in a Chip Ganassi Racing
Memorex-sponsored Dodge, finished two lengths away in second after
leading 61 laps. It was also Clauson's career-first series start.

"James drove a great race," said Clauson, who battled back from an
earlier race incident. "Our tires were just used up. We stretched our
last run 125 laps, so we were really slipping and sliding out there. But
what a great night overall. I want to thank Ganassi Racing and Memorex
for the opportunity; I think we'll be back this year for five to eight
more ARCA races."

Wildwood, Florida driver Wayne Anderson, in the McDowell
Construction-Airframe Int'l Dodge, gave the locals something to cheer
about with a career-best third place finish.

"Wow, what a night," said Anderson. "It was like bumper cars out there
all night; I think we hit everything but the pace car. This is such a
neat little racetrack. This is where this series belongs, at places like
this. I really hope ARCA comes back."

Anderson wasn't the only driver who landed against another machine as
18 cautions for a variety of thrills and spills shook the field up
constantly throughout the 250 lap race, which was extended three laps to
accommodate the ARCA-mandated green flag finish. There were no injuries,
but plenty of sparks to continually light up the southern skies.

Justin Allgaier, in the Hoosier Midwest-AG Tech-Trashman-USAF Chevrolet,
raced his way from 19th to fourth in the final running order ahead of
Brian Keselowski, who finished fifth in the Holloway-Dusty's Collision
Dodge after leading 35 laps. As a result of Allgaier's solid effort,
the Springfield, Illinois driver is tied with Frank Kimmel for the
championship points lead headed to Nashville Superspeedway for event
number three of the 23 race schedule.

ARCA Pole Award winner Bobby Santos III, in the Bill Davis Racing
Toyota, was impressive early leading the first 116 laps before getting
tangled up with Patrick Sheltra on a restart, an incident that also
collected Billy Venturini and Clauson. All but Santos were able to
return to competition. The occasion marked the career-first Pole Award
for Toyota in ARCA RE/MAX Series competition as well as the first time a
Toyota led laps in RE/MAX Series competition.

Apopka, Florida driver Tim Russell finished sixth in the Rinnai Tankless
Water Heaters-Eagle Creek Aviation Dodge with Kimmel, in the Tri-State
Motorsports-Pork Ford, trailing in seventh. Kimmel, who started 25th,
was also awarded the Hoosier Tire Hard Charger Award for advancing the
most positions. Ellenton, Florida driver John Jackson, who led seven
laps, finished eighth in the Fixatire-James Carter Attorney Chevrolet.
Justin South, in the HD Supply Chevrolet, finished ninth with Stuart,
Florida driver Bryan Silas, in the Nortrax-Holland Pump Chevrolet,
trailing in 10th.

The next event for the ARCA RE/MAX Series will be the Nashville ARCA 150
at Nashville Superspeedway on April 7th.